by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Redskins have a problem, and finally for this franchise and its fans, it's one of those good problems.

Rookies Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris spearheaded an attack that put up 28 points in the second quarter last week against the Dallas Cowboys.

Then the Cowboys offense nearly tore down the deficit over the second half.

Having a young, emerging offense is a good thing; so is having your defense play with the lead. Nearly giving it all away is not.

This was no fluke. No Redskins special-teams gaffes or offensive letdowns contributed to Dallas pulling within a score before losing 38-31. This was the Cowboys abandoning the run and setting ablaze the Washington secondary to the tune of 441 passing yards.

The unbalanced performance brings up the most critical question about the 5-6 Redskins: How far can the offense carry them?

There are no quick fixes for what ails Washington's defense. After season-ending injuries to starters Brian Orakpo and Adam Carriker, the Redskins are on pace for 29 sacks, 11 fewer than last season. This means added stress on a group of defensive backs that already was the team's weak link, former NFL coach Herm Edwards says.

"They lost their ability to put pressure on the quarterback," says Edwards, an ESPN analyst. "When you put pressure on the quarterback, everything looks a lot better."

The Redskins are 31st against the pass, allowing 301.4 yards a game, but a weak pass defense is no longer a death sentence in the postseason. Recent Super Bowl winners the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints haven't been stifling but have been opportunistic, like the Redskins were with two interceptions of Cowboys QB Tony Romo on Thanksgiving.

"One thing you know about playoff competition is this: If you have a hot quarterback and your defense can take the ball away, you don't need to have a dominant defense anymore," Edwards says.

Haymakers, not jabs, can take you far.

Says Redskins linebacker Chris Wilson, "We need to figure out how to corner teams and cut the ring off, so to speak, and we'll be as good as anybody."

Giant rematch

Playing from ahead is easier than playing from behind, of course, but it is a new phenomenon for the improving Redskins.

They have led at halftime in 17 of the 43 games since Mike Shanahan became coach before the 2010 season, and six of those games were this season.

With the win against the Cowboys, the Redskins improved to 5-1 when leading at halftime. But they are 0-5 when trailing or tied.

One of those losses came against the Giants on Oct. 21 in a game that seemed to be the Redskins' to win. Griffin led a 77-yard drive capped by a 30-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss to give the Redskins a 24-20 lead with 1:32 remaining. On the drive, Griffin showed some of his wizardry with a 19-yard completion off a scramble on fourth-and-10 from his 23-yard line and then a 24-yard run.

The Giants came back two plays and 19 seconds later when QB Eli Manning connected with Victor Cruz, who went up the seam to elude defensive backs Josh Wilson and Madieu Williams for a game-winning 77-yard score.

"He made the play to beat us, but I don't feel like he made that play," Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall said afterward. "I feel we gave him that play. We just had one guy set his feet and one guy not do this. I could have thrown that ball, and he would have scored.

"It wasn't something where he was a rocket scientist and he figured something out. We just played that as bad as possible."

The loss was the start of a three-game skid, but the Redskins have beaten NFC East rivals in the Philadelphia Eagles and Cowboys in consecutive weeks and face a rematch Monday night with division-leading New York, which has a two-game lead over Washington.

"Washington is a great team, and in this division everybody plays each other tight and close. So we've got to go out there and prepare well and take advantage of the opportunities when they come," Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks says.

With five games to play, the Redskins are among a group of teams that could be vying for the NFC wild-card spots.

"It just felt like were were showing everybody what we are capable of," Griffin said after beating Dallas.

Close games, however, can be the undoing of any potential playoff team. The Redskins' six losses have come by an average of 7.3 points. Other than a 15-point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, all were within one possession. Again, that could put the onus on the defense.

Led by Griffin, the Redskins have more points through 11 games (295) than they did all of last season. They are third in the NFL in rushing yards a game and seventh in total offense. For the first time in team history, a Redskins quarterback has passed for four touchdowns in consecutive games.

"I was just really disappointed, but I was in awe of RGIII and the plays he was making," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.

Weathering storm

If defensive coordinator Jim Haslett told his group that old halftime adage in the locker room at Cowboys Stadium - play the second half like it's 0-0 - it did anything but.

There were times when the secondary was too aggressive, such as when Wilson tried to jump a crossing pattern to Dez Bryant and missed the ball, taking out linebacker London Fletcher in the process and watching Bryant romp 85 yards to make it a two-score game in the third quarter.

"You never want to take the playmaker out of the player," linebacker Lorenzo Alexander says. "If a guy thinks he has a read on the ball and intercepts it, then it's all great. But if he doesn't make the play, then it's like, 'Ahh, why did you do that?' "

On the opposite end of the aggression spectrum, there was the fourth-quarter drive in which Romo completed six of eight passes against a Washington defense playing on its heels.

"Sometimes you may be in a mode where you're getting greedy," Wilson says. "And sometimes you may be in a mode where you're like, 'OK, we're up by a lot, we know these guys have weapons, let's make sure they don't get some quick deep shots.' "

If not for Griffin managing two fourth-quarter scoring drives, the country would have been talking about Romo's comeback savvy, not Griffin's rookie brilliance.

Alexander was asked after the game what effect an RGIII-inspired offensive outburst had on the defense. He said, "It's exciting, because you don't feel like you've got to stop a team every single time."

That's true, as long as they stick to a conservative offensive game plan. Morris is 18 yards away from 1,000 and rushed for 113 last week, yet he received four carries in the third quarter against Dallas as Washington's offense stalled and the Cowboys fought their way back.

As much as Shanahan would like to put the ball in Griffin's hands, he needs to let Morris do the heavy lifting, Edwards says.

"You say, 'We've got an offense that can basically control a game, because we can run the football,' " Edwards says. "So run the football."

But opposing quarterbacks like Romo are always going to make runs. Whether Washington can stifle or weather them will determine how far it goes. Like Griffin, most Redskins are inexperienced at playing meaningful football in December. Among the defensive starters, only tackle Barry Cofield, a former Giant, has significant experience on a winning playoff team.

Cofield's teammates were quick to point out that the Redskins closed the door the week before in a 31-6 defeat of the Eagles. But Philadelphia had a rookie quarterback, Nick Foles, making his first start.

"We can't allow teams to get back in games by giving up big plays like we did," Alexander says. "But luckily our offense put up enough points to where we could re-settle down and finish the game up strong."